In the first of his "Continental Prophecies" (see also
Europe and The Song of Los), Blake
explores the radical paradigms of political repression and revolt
through a highly imaginative treatment of the American Revolution.
While historical figures such as Washington and Paine appear, much
of the symbolic and thematic weight is placed on Blake's own
invented mythological figures, including "Albions Angel" and
"Londons Guardian" (forces of the British government), Urizen (the
god of restrictive reason and the origin of political repression),
and fiery Orc (the spirit of revolt). The American Revolution is
viewed as a harbinger of universal revolution, epistemological as
much as political.

In 1793, Blake etched in relief, with considerable white-line
work in some designs, and first printed twenty-three plates for
America. These include eighteen major text and design
plates used in all complete copies, a small plate (e) bearing the
word "Preludium" and printed above the design on plate 3, and four
plates (a-d) never published, perhaps because of potentially
actionable references to "the King" and "George." The first
printing consisted of proof copy a (plates 1, 4, 11, 12, 15, a-c in
black, dark green, and dark blue inks), copies E-G, I, K, L in
greenish black or dark olive inks, and copies C, D, H, R in bluish
black and blue green inks (there is no copy designated as "J").
There are three later printings: 1795 (copies A, B), c. 1807 (copy
M), and 1821 (copy O). Copies N, P, and Q are posthumous.

Related Works

Related works currently available in the William Blake Archive appear as links below. Works not currently available appear as plain text.